Representatives of the Spanish government, Iberia and Airbus signed an agreement Wednesday to develop "a complete Spanish ‘value chain’ for sustainable and renewable aviation biofuel for commercial use."
The US, which on Wednesday commemorated the signing of its 100th open skies air services accord, is eyeing agreements with countries that have yet to sign such pacts, most notably China, Mexico, Russia and the Dominican Republic, according to a State Dept. official.
US President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he has directed the Departments of Energy and Agriculture and the Navy "to work with the private sector to create advanced biofuels that can power not just fighter jets, but trucks and commercial airliners."
The UK Competition Commission said it saw no grounds to alter its initial decision regarding UK airport ownership and again ordered BAA to sell London Stansted and one of its two Scottish airports, either Edinburgh or Glasgow.
The US, which on Wednesday will formally commemorate the signing of its 100th open skies air services accord, is eyeing agreements with countries that have yet to sign such pacts, most notably China, Mexico, Russia and the Dominican Republic, according to a State Dept. official.
Turkish Technic and GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) have signed an APS3200 APU repair services contract which covers two APS3200 model APU repair of GECAS. Services will be carried out at Turkish Technic's APU shop in Istanbul, Turkey.
Travelport reached a renewed multi-year content agreement with Saudi Arabian Airlines. Under terms, Galileo and Worldspan-connected users will gain enhanced connectivity to the carrier’s inventory of flights and fares on over 80 domestic and international routes. Lufthansa Systems signed a five-year contract with Cebu Pacific to provide its Flight Management System.
Air India has completed the double migration of Air India and Indian Airlines to SITA's Horizon Passenger Services System. "SITA successfully took the two separate airlines' IT platforms and completed this complex migration to the new PSS in a record 293 days.This included the successful transfer of more than half a million Passenger Name Records with 99.99% accuracy," SITA said. The migration is a key step toward merging the two airlines and is a requirement for Air India's entry into Star Alliance set for mid-year.
The Dept. of Transportation's tarmac delay rule, introduced in April 2010, has resulted in a "42% surge in bad-weather airline cancellations," at a cost of "billions of dollars"in airline costs, business disruption and lost productivity, according to an extensive study by aviation consultants Darryl Jenkins and Joshua Marks released Tuesday.
Low-cost carrier AirAsia and Expedia announced the launch of a joint venture to sell "a complete range of value flights, hotels and holiday packages" in the Asia/Pacific region.
Alaska Airlines and regional affiliate Horizon Air were forced to cancel 150 combined flights on Saturday affecting around 12,150 passengers owning to computer system problems. In a YouTube.com video posted by Alaska, President Brad Tilden explained that "a transformer blew and took down the central computer systems for both Alaska and Horizon." In addition to the cancellations, there were also extensive delays, the company said. The systems were restored by Sunday. "I offer my profound apology to customers inconvenienced by this disruption," Tilden stated.
Japan Airlines on Monday completed its court-monitored bankruptcy restructuring under Japan's Corporate Rehabilitation Law, and also announced more flight reductions as it contends with a steep drop in demand in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami crisis that devastated the country.
The MA600, the AVIC-produced 60-seat turboprop, began formal flight operations over the weekend when the Civil Aviation Flight University of China put it into operation to replace a phased out Yun-7.
The European Commission on Monday said it is committed to a “complete modernization of Europe's air traffic control system by 2020, delivering the Single European Sky … and the completion of the European Common Aviation Area of 58 countries and 1 billion inhabitants by 2020.”
Hawaiian Holdings will offer $75 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due in 2016, it said, with UBS Investment Bank as sole book-running manager and Imperial Capital as co-manager. It also expects to grant underwriters of the notes an option for an additional $11.25 million aggregate principal amount to cover over-allotments. It intends to use a portion of proceeds to pay outstanding loans, and for general corporate purchases.
Lufthansa Systems CIO Jorg Liebe told ATW that Condor Airlines will launch its new wireless inflight entertainment system, BoardConnect, this summer aboard Boeing 767s with business class passengers utilizing "tablet-type" devices provided by the airline to access content and economy passengers given the option to access content via their own personal Wi-Fi equipped devices.
US National Transportation Safety Board said it opened an investigation into last week's incident in which Washington National Airport's ATC tower was unresponsive to two aircraft that landed at DCA between 12:04 a.m. and 12:28 a.m. on March 23.
Boeing is expanding its GoldCare service to include the Next-Generation 737 product line. The company is in advanced discussions with multiple customers regarding the tailoring of GoldCare solutions for their 737 fleets.
The search for the wreckage of Air France Airbus A330-200, which crashed June 1, 2009 en route to Paris CDG from Rio de Janeiro killing all 228 people, resumed Monday ( ATW Daily News, Jan. 25).
SITA said it was approved as an electronic fares filing agent by both the US Dept. of Transportation and the Canadian Transportation Agency, becoming just the second approved filing agent after airline-owned ATPCO.
